Dawnlike Honesty
by remember-nomore
Summary: Angel shows up in Sunnydale to help with the chaos. A sweet moment between Dawn and Angel


'_I'm not sure how I feel about anything lately. Everything's so messed up and confused… Since Warren shot Tara things have been tense around the house. Between Willow going all psycho crazy and finding out about Spike…'_

Dawn dropped her pen and sighed, she was hungry and writing everything out in her diary was failing miserably. Remembering the box of Twinkies she and Tara had bought on their grocery trip, she jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. All thoughts of cream filled snacks, however, left her mind when she saw the brooding vampire stretched out in the living room chair.

"Oh my gosh!" she screamed, running and hopping into his lap. He looked up just in time to see the attack of the seventeen year old, live and in person.

"Dawn, hey," he quipped, as her arms wrapped around his neck. "Whoa, Buffy been training you?"

"Here and there. Mostly, it's just my natural strength. I am made from Slayer's blood, remember?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, that you are." Had Buffy's smile sometimes too.

"So, you here because of Tara?"

He looked at her. She was so young, yet far wiser than her years. "Yeah, thought maybe I could, help out some."

"You gonna kill Spike?" He was taken aback by her question. "I really hope you aren't, cause I really love him. Not in a, eww, gross way or anything, but a, hey, he's so cool, like a big brother who let's ya eat chocolate for breakfast, kinda way. And I know what he did, to Tara, wasn't exactly something he should've done, but he did it cause he didn't want her to die. He knows how important she is to all of us, so he thought he was doing the right thing…which I, personally, think, he did."

The vampire opened his mouth to speak, but wasn't given the chance. "Willow can give her a soul, like you, only without that darn clause."

She paused a moment, furrowing a brow as if in deep thought. Then, she looked him straight in the eye and said," Will she be like you…like Angelus?"

His heart fell with her question and what color he did have, quickly left. "Uh…I don't…" He fumbled for the answer. "Dawn, a vampire is really a reflection of a person's true, inner self."

"So what you're saying is that you were a total bastard." He felt as if he'd been slapped. "No offense, I mean, but let's be real…Angelus was NOT a very nice guy…even for a vampire." He nodded her words true.

"You're right, he wasn't."

"But you, the real you, Angel you, he's fantastic! Super nice and a lot of fun…except when it comes to monopoly and then, you're almost as bad as Anya. But in every other way, yeah, Mr. Fun! Like that time, you took me to the arcade and we played air hockey for like, four hours."

He smiled, remembering it as if it had really happened.

"So yeah, I'm kinda confused…you're a nice guy but he's evil on wheels."

"Along time ago, Dawn, I might not have been such a nice person," he admitted.

"Oh, well, glad you are now."

"Me too."

"So then, Tara, she's like, the nicest person ever…even more so than Willow, which is saying a lot, cause, well, Willow is Disney material. But then, well, her vamp self…hello, dominatrix, table for one. Why's that? Is Tara gonna be a domme? Hey, will she spank Spike?"

Angel silently begged for an apocalypse…a demon bursting through the front door….Buffy calling him to unclog the toilet, anything. How was he supposed to answer her questions?

"Dawn, it's…it's really hard to explain…the whole, true self, vampire thing. I don't fully understand it myself."

She grinned. "It's okay, I've wigged you out with all the questions and the, domme talk. No big. I know Tara…I know she's not going to be some big bad. But, if she is, well, Willow, soul…then she can be one of the gang again. I don't know if she and Willow can get back the way they were…Buffy says that things have changed, in a big way…like I don't know that…I know dating a vamp is so not an easy thing to do…"

She looked at him then continued. "But still, she'll be here, with us, and even if they don't, they can still have the friendship, which I know, sounds lame and all, but it's not. Friendship is way more important than people think. Like Spike…he's my friend, I can always talk to him, when Buffy's driving me crazy or school's not so great…he helped me when I was feeling bad about the whole, who am I, thing. And now, he's helping Tara, adjust and learn…he likes Tara. At Scooby meetings, he would always hold the door for her, or get her soda…once, he actually brought her one of those onion things from the Bronze…and he always makes sure she gets home safe. Well, he did. Guess he doesn't have to worry about that anymore, huh?" Again, she paused and again, it was only for a moment. "Willow's having a real hard time. She's so in love with Tara. But Buffy's going to take care of her. She'll do whatever it takes for her. She loves Willow…she always has."

Suddenly, her stomach remembered why she was up so early and she leaped from his lap. "So gotta get foodage. We'll talk later?"

He smiled and nodded, still trying to take in everything that she said. She returned the smile and hurried into the kitchen. The vampire shook his head. She reminded him so much of Buffy, sometimes he could see glimmers of the girl he'd first met when Dawn went on.

"Hey," she quipped, hurrying past him, several Twinkies in her hands. "Maybe later, I can show you some of my moves. Bet I can take you!"

"You're on," he replied, watching her disappear up the stairs, a huge smile on his face.


End file.
